PHILADELPHIA – There are weeks when Freddy Galvis makes you believe there is something waiting to happen in his bat, that the 23-year-old’s hitting someday will complement the elite glove he already possesses at just about every position on the field.

Then there are weeks like those when Chase Utley was on the disabled list, when Galvis was given the everyday second baseman job and went so cold at the plate that the Phils decided to turn to Cesar Hernandez and send Galvis to Triple-A to work out the kinks.

This week, Galvis is full of promise. That included a beautiful performance Wednesday night in a 4-2 win over the Padres, as he went 3-for-3 with a single, double, home run and a gorgeously executed safety squeeze in the bottom of the eighth to plate an important insurance run.

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“That’s his game,” Ryne Sandberg said of Galvis. “He’s a situational guy (who) handles the bat. He’s a good hit-and-run guy, and gave us a safety squeeze right there.

“He’s a thinking guy at home plate. He’s thinking with the pitcher. He got an inside fastball and turned on that with the short stroke for the home run. Those are the type of things Freddy can do.”

Cliff Lee, meanwhile did what he has done most of the season – go deep in a quality start. Two solo homers were the only blemishes on his record. The southpaw turned 35 two weeks ago, yet as he prepares to surpass 200 innings pitched for the eighth time in the last nine seasons, he is doing some of his best work in September.

Lee laughed at talk about his age and the gray stubble starting to show.

“I don’t know, (Jamie) Moyer pitched until he was 50. I don’t think I’m going to do that, but I take pride in what I do. I try to work hard in the offseason to prepare for a long year, and I’m going to keep doing that until I’m done.”

With the score knotted at 2-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, Sandberg showed faith in Lee’s ability to do the fundamental things when he left him in to put down a sacrifice bunt with two on and none out. He executed the bunt perfectly.

“I was glad Ryno let me stay in there to do that,” said Lee, who improved to 13-6 on the season and dropped his ERA to 2.97. “That was big. A lot of times you get pinch-hit for right there. I was glad he had enough faith in me to get the bunt down and execute, then go back out there in the eighth to put a zero up.

“It looked like a smart move because I got the bunt down. If I hadn’t gotten the bunt down and done something stupid like hit into a double play, it would’ve looked like a bad move. But I made it look like a really good move … It just shows it’s important to field your position, get down bunts. It’s important. You can get in a situation where you’re out of the game, and that’s not what you want.”

Galvis also provided some quality fundamentals when he pushed a bunt to first base for a perfect safety squeeze in the eighth. His average this season for the Phils bumped up to .225 after it had bottomed out at .197 five days ago. He has eight hits in his last 16 at-bats, and with the two extra-base hits Wednesday, 15 of his 39 knocks this season with the Phils have gone for extras.

It was the eighth multi-hit game for Galvis, which is a lot for someone who only has 39 hits on the season. They seem to come in bunches and it seems it’s easy to tell he’s swinging the bat well – or poorly – as soon as he steps to the plate for the first time.

The trick is to make those bad days less frequent and perhaps have the young Venezuelan better make adjustments over the course of the game.

“That’s my plan right now – try to be short to the ball,” Galvis said. “Right now, things are working.

“In the beginning of the season, the homers I was hitting I was trying to do it. But on this one, I think it was good because I went short and quick … I’m just trying to keep it simple and hit a line drive.”